More to Her
by Kittyy w
Summary: Parker was just bored, so she went to play a game and in the process found remnants of a life she thought she left behind for good. And now, her old friend is back and she's not the only one that's noticed her Lana.
1. A Blast from the Past

Chapter One: A Blast From the Past

Parker was bored. Nate and Sophie were out meeting their client. Hardison was too busy messing with Eliot and Eliot was just being Eliot, growling under his breath and damming Hardison for not doing whatever it was he didn't do.

"It's about trust, Hardison." Eliot said, getting in the hacker's face. "A man makes a sandwich and puts it away; he has to trust that when he comes back the sandwich will still be there."

"I ain't eat your damn sandwich. What was it turkey or ham or something..?" The dark man paused as if thinking. "I'm allergic to that stuff; I don't even eat sandwiches like that, man. Maybe you ate it yourself and forgot about it." This gave the hitter pause, his voice quiet and dangerous when he spoke next.

"So now my sandwich is forgettable?" Parker stood then and left the room.

So, since neither of them would entertain her, she had to find a way to entertain herself and what better way than to steal something. It wasn't really stealing anyway; she was going to give it back and besides it wasn't like they would notice it was gone. So Parker pulled her long blonde hair into a high ponytail and slipped through the window.

She found herself lost in a crowd, fitting in with her dark jeans and black hoodie. Parker was easily able to lift wallets off of those next to her and slide them into the pockets of their friends or at least she thought they were friends; it was really hard to tell, oh well. She continued her game 'til she was bored with it and the crowd thinned.

The blonde wondered what the team was doing and if Eliot was going to yell at her like always, when she saw a woman in a pretty dress, like the ones Sophie wears. It sparkled where the coat opened and her shoes looked painful. Parker paused when she saw the necklace the woman was wearing; it was a pretty locket with a Celtic design and large jewel. Her bag was very sparkly and shiny, held tightly in a firm grasp. This lady just had a lot of pretty things, even prettier than Sophie!

Parker followed the woman into a café; she felt like a spy and giggled into her hand at the thought. Parker the Spy; Secret Agent Parker. Agent P. Another giggle escaped as the thought of being a platypus passed through her head.

The woman pulled out a wallet; it was pretty like the rest of her things, but it was plain too yet more expensive than maybe even Sophie's wallets. She sat the wallet down and reached again into her bag for a handful of bills and placed a twenty on the table before standing. Parker scurried after her, ducking at corners and hiding behind people as she continued her secret mission. She hadn't gotten a good look at the woman due to the scarf hiding her hair and the large sunglasses hiding her eyes.

Parker brushed past the woman, lifting the wallet that was sticking out of her bag. Success! Agent P wins! She continued on then stopped at the next block and did a little dance but was stopped when she was tapped on the shoulder.

"Excuse me. You have something of mine. I'd like it back." Parker turned and saw that it was the woman from the café with the pretty things. Her hand was out, palm up and expecting.

Parker was confused; she'd never been caught before. The only one that ever caught her was.

"Lana." The woman flinched, her hand shaking now. She removed her glasses, revealing startling green eyes.

"I-I-I" the woman paused and cleared her throat and ran a shaky hand through her dark red hair, her scarf fluttering to the ground next to the glasses which were dropped in what Parker assumed was shock. "I haven't heard that name in a long time," her eyes narrowed on Parker's frozen form. "Who are you?"

Parker said nothing, still too shocked at the thought of this woman being Lana, _her _Lana. She scrutinized the shaking woman, taking in her red hair and green eyes; Lana had red hair and green eyes, but she remembered it being brighter and reminding her of fire not blood. Oh, god blood. There was _so_ much of it. She remembered _her _Lana drowning in it, green eyes losing focus as she fought to stay awake like Parker wanted her to. No, not Parker, she was

"Goldie," the woman whispered, the fake Lana whispered, her hand trembling as she brought it to her mouth and stared in disbelief at Parker, tears pooling in her wide eyes. Parker fist clenched and her knuckles bled white.

"Don't call me that! My name is Parker!" She screamed at the fake Lana, tears starting to run down her face at the memories that were trying to resurface. She collapsed on the grass and brought her knees to her chest, her arms wrapping around them. "Parker, Parker, Parker. My name is Parker. Parkerparkerparkerparkerpark er…" She continued to mutter, her eyes glazing over, rocking back and forth on the grass and she began to retreat into herself.

"No, no, no. Please Goldie. Please!" and the fake Lana was beside Parker, her arms wrapping around her as she began to plead with Parker in a desperate voce, tears splashing on the oblivious Parker as she continued to rock back and forth muttering "Parkerparkerparkerparkerpark er…." all the while.

"I'm so sorry, Goldie. So sorry that I left. I didn't mean to; I didn't want to. God, Goldie did you really think that I'd ever want to leave you? I didn't think that I ever could. I mean you and me; we're like, I don't know, ice cream and cake. I mean come _on_, Goldie please! Goldie, _please_! Please. Goldiegoldiegoldiegoldiegold ie." And she went on to say her name as though it were a prayer.

Parker seemed to come back when her phone went off, her brown eyes curiously blank as she surveyed the scene of the fake Lana crying and clutching onto her all the while saying Goldie. She answered it and listened with mild interest as Nate went on to yell at her about leaving.

"You can't just leave, Parker. No one knew where you were and you long ago had disabled your GPS somehow so—"he was cut off by Sophie, she must have been on speaker phone.

"Is that crying? Parker who's crying?"

Parker glanced at the fake Lana in a detached manner before answering in an apathetic voice. "No one, just some lady."


	2. Familiar Means Real

Chapter Two: Familiar Means Real

Parker tried to remain in control. She was determined not to flinch at the tensing of Lana, the fake Lana. It was just so _hard_; she looked so much like _her_; it was like they cloned her, like in one of Hardison's weird movies, Star something. She tried to keep from reaching out to hold the fake Lana— the Lana look-alike— to her as she moved to leave, head down and her eyes hidden by her red bangs. Parker couldn't help the wince that she gave when the Lana look-alike spoke.

"No one," she whispered, her voice breaking. "Just some lady," she sneered, in Parker's face now. "I'm no one now? No one, huh? Is that what I am, Goldie? Huh? Is that what I _am_ Goldie?"

Parker looked up then; obviously this lady was waiting on an answer. The blonde had to quickly look away; the look in her eyes, the eyes that looked so much like _hers_. Her eyes looked like Sophie's when Nate would drink that smelly stuff in his cup; those green eyes looked like Hardison's when the van blew up and Eliot's that day at the horse track. Before Parker could speak, the Lana look-alike gave a laugh, the one Nate gives whenever he speaks about IYS; you never wanted to laugh with them.

"I guess I am no one, huh Goldie," she gave that empty laugh again. "Well, then again you're not Goldie are you, _Parker_?" And then she turned to walk away, red hair swinging wildly with the sudden movement.

Parker didn't even remember telling her traitorous hand to reach out and grab hold of the fake Lana's wrist. She didn't recall telling her voice to speak and say "Don't go. Don't leave me again. _Please_." She didn't even know she was crying as she held the redhead to her in a tight embrace that was so familiar in the way that the woman seemed to melt into her and Parker's face automatically inhaled the shampoo the woman used. Parker didn't even dwell on how she knew that it would smell like strawberries.

They held each other in silence until Parker's phone rang, disrupting their peace. The blonde thief sighed before answering, one arm still wrapped around Lana.

"Parker, where the hell are you?" It was Eliot and of course he was going to yell at her.

"At the Park. Parker's at the park," she giggled.

"Well, get your ass down here. We do have another client or did you forget about that thing we do called a _job_, you know the one that you and the _team_ does, the one that you're not here for?!"

"No. Okay, okay. We'll be there."

"We? What the hell do you mean we—" Parker hung up, smiling down at the woman snuggled up to her.

"Hey." Parker ran her fingers through the woman's hair; it was soft and fluffy like Lana's. "Let's um…. Uh, you wanna go to work with me?"

Lana's clone only hmmed in response, thoroughly enjoying the petting Parker was giving her. Parker grinned before standing, pulling fake Lana up with her. One arm snaked around Parker's waist and Parker automatically reciprocated. It was like a routine, like they did this all the time; it was familiar.

"So Goldie, I mean uh Parker; what is it that you do?"

Parker paused, briefly considering whether to tell Lana's clone that she stole things for money she rarely spent. Why not, it was like a test to see if the clone was really a clone or not. "I'm a thief," she remarked casually.

"A thief? Huh. That's not surprising; it's what you did, er do. No big. I'm a thief too… among other things."

"You _are_? Huh. I guess that's not too surprising either, Lana." The blonde glanced at the other woman when she stopped. "What?"

"It's just that," she swallowed. "It's so great to hear you say my name especially since I haven't gone by that name since…." She trailed off when she noticed Parker just staring with a blank look, obviously billions of miles away.

"I called you Lana," Parker stated suddenly, as if it was wrong to do so. "I called you Lana, but…."

"But…?" Lana prompted with a confused smile.

"You're, you're not _her_. You're notLana." Surprising Parker, the other woman gave an indulgent smile.

"If _I'm_ not Lana then _who_ am I?"

"Her clone." Parker declared as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Lana only gave a laugh and Parker's breath hitched in her throat. She had her _laugh_ too?

"Oh, Goldie, I mean Parker. You're Parker now." She shook her head slowly, the sun shining brightly on it making it appear as fire, still smiling a soft smile that reached her eyes and made them bright like they were _before_, and Parker had a hard time breathing then. That was Lana; _this_ was Lana, _her_ Lana. 

"I may be Parker," she said, a slow smile making its way onto her face and lightening her brown eyes. "But _you're _Lana, _my_ Lana."

Lana grinned widely, eyes large and shining, "Yours am I," she purred. She paused as if thinking, emerald eyes glinting with mischief. "I don't know…." Parker tensed, a frown marring her face. Lana hastily spoke. "Well, I _guess_ I can belong to Parker." Her eyes narrowed on Parker's, piercing as they searched the blonde's. "Can Parker belong to Lana?"

The blonde bit her lip and hid a smile when she saw how Lana's eyes followed the action. This was her Lana alright. She continued to think, ignoring the way Lana's gaze drilled holes into her with their intensity. Could she belong to her? What if she left again? What if she disappeared like before? What if she decided she didn't want her anymore? What if Eliot and the team couldn't fix her if she broke again, if she broke even more? Would she do it? Could she?

"Yes," Parker smiled, her grin growing when she saw how the other woman relaxed like the team did when they got back from a job well done. Darn it, the team! She grabbed hold of Lana's arm in a firm grip and took off for the bar; Eliot was gonna yell at her for sure.

They made it there in no time, Lana's heels not slowing her down at all, even Sophie couldn't run like that in heels. As soon as they strolled in, they bypassed all the patrons and headed straight upstairs, Parker leading Lana by the hand, her blonde ponytail swinging wildly with her speed.

Every head in the Leverage headquarters went up as they heard the _click_ of heels. Parker didn't wear heels unless she had to, and Sophie was already present. Eliot stood quickly, making his way to the door as the quick _clicks_ became louder, closer. The door was thrown open and standing there was Parker, cheeks flushed and eyes sparkling, her hand holding onto a woman he _knew_.

A/N: Hope you enjoyed it; I apologize if Parker seems very ooc. I understand she has trust issues, so if you all think that its ooc for Parker to suddenly take to a woman she was uncertain of then please let me know before I continue on in the same way. Thanks you guys and please review; I'd like to know what you all think and how I'm doing. Thnx again ;)


	3. Rose an Lana Lana and Rose

Warning: The following chapters contain violence.

Chapter Three: Rose and Lana; Lana and Rose

"Well, _damn_," that was Hardison, his mouth agape as he openly checked out the woman with Parker.

"Sorry I'm late, but I ran into Lana" She smiled at the woman, not noticing the looks on the others' faces.

"Rose. Call me Rose." She smiled without looking at any of them, her eyes on Parker's face for any hint that she didn't want her there. She did however, glance up when she heard the voice of Nathan Ford. Parker worked with him? Who else did she work with?

"Well, uh _Rose_. What are you doing here? Did you run out of _work_ back overseas?" he spat the word as if disgusted.

Oh, wow. Parker worked with Nathan Ford and was that _Charlotte_; why was she working with Ford? And, by the _gods_, that was Eliot Spencer. Just what the hell was going on?!

"Hello, Nathan Ford, wonderful seeing you again," her voice was most disinterested, and she sounded as if it was anything but wonderful. She even moved her gaze back to Parker, seemingly ending the conversation.

"Okay, I'm going to cut to the chase: what are you doing here?" She glanced up again lazily as though it were a most dreaded chore to remove her gaze from the still smiling blonde thief.

"I believe it's _Go to Work with Parker_ _Day_," Lana/Rose quipped in a flat voice, much like the one Parker had used when she said she was her own clone. Parker giggled, which was new to the team since it sounded so _free_. Just who _was_ this woman to Parker?

"Enough with the bull, okay, _Lana_? We don't condone your type of work, Rose. We need our thief back, so can you kindly see yourself out?" Ford was so darn _rude_. Lana looked to Parker as if waiting for her to say anything. Parker only bit her lip, blonde brows furrowed in confusion. Lana sighed before untangling their hands and moving to leave.

The almost bruising grip Parker suddenly had on her wrist was what stopped her from doing so. "You agreed remember?" Parker reminded and grinned in triumph at Lana's resigned nod; she held onto her anyway in case she tried to leave when she turned around. The blonde's brows creased at the thought; what if she _did_ try to leave? (Parker) What if she left like she did last time, when there were angry words and shoving hands (Parker!) and hurting glares and, and, and _blood_, so much _blood_.

Parker remembered the metallic smell and the stickiness and the warmness that left her cold. (PARKER) She could almost feel the stinging of the blows that had rained down on her as she screamed and cried for them to stop, _please_ just _please _stop.

"PARKER!" A hand was gently rubbing away the tears that steadily ran down the blonde's face as she sobbed loudly as though in great pain, soothing whispers of nothing and reassurances of everything being alright were relaxing the blonde's bruising grip on Lana's wrist. The redhead only continued her ministrations, wiping away Parker's tears with tender touches. Parker's cries softened to only whimpers, her arms wrapped around Lana in a tight embrace as she continued to cry in the woman's arms, her head buried in the crook of her neck.

The team watched in stunned silence as the woman comforted their thief in a way none of them had ever been able to. Sophie stood frozen; her hand outstretched uselessly, beautiful features twisted in a helpless fashion. She had tears streaming down her pale cheeks at the sight of her friend, sister really, who was so _broken_. And she felt a twist in her insides at the image of another comforting her in a way that she couldn't, not in a million years.

Because the truth was even though they all had become a sort of family to Parker, the thief just still had her borders and her walls that no one could sort of break, except maybe Eliot, but it was more of a climb over them.

God, just who _was_ this woman?! Sophie didn't realize that she had said it aloud until Hardison answered.

"Her name is Rose, no last name like Parker. She's a seasoned assassin and thief," the familiar sound of typing could be heard; the hacker paused, eyes screwing shut as if to banish a horrible image. "The things this chick has done…god. Look," he turned his laptop towards his audience. "The woman killed a man, a big shot of the Irish Mob, Daly McLaughlin. He was found in his bar hanging from his ceiling fan, various lacerations and burns among his body, a gunshot wound to the head, a small flower found near the body," Hardison gave an choked laugh that sounded pained. "It was a rose, a sort of calling card, hence the name, Rose." Sophie gave a retching sound, her hand coming to her mouth.

"I didn't know about that one, must've been her earlier work," Eliot muttered to himself, thinking aloud.

"You know her." The ex-insurance worker stated, unsurprised. The hitter's explanation was interrupted by the hacker who continued detailing the gruesome kills.

"Here's another one. The name was Gregory Daniels, a big-time Lawyer for the higher-ups, failed to get this shady congressman off for assault and extortion. He was found bloody and beaten, a blunt weapon was used, maybe a bat or golf club. Cause of death wasn't even the nails that were shot into him from his nail gun; nope it was the gunshot wound to the head," he tapped more buttons. "Another one was of a man, normal enough 'cept he was a pedophile that had gotten off with bail," Nate scoffed in disgust, but it was Eliot that continued.

"Yeah, that was a more personal job for her. Never liked Chesters," he shook his head, a growl escaping at the thought of the scum. "He died from blood lost, not the customary gunshot to the head even though she shot him there anyway. She had accomplices that night, two crackheads that were known for their nasty work," Eliot shuddered, which immediately put all three on edge. "They were rapists in prison and would do anything for a buck to get their next fix, so Rose had paid them for their services for a certain someone, Chester." It donned on them all that Rose had paid the men to rape the other, Chester. Sophie threw up then in a wastebasket that was nearby; Nate and Hardison looked at Eliot with sickened and disbelieving looks, Eliot nodded.

"Yeah," he sighed. "She had him experience what he did to them kids then afterwards when he was broken and bleeding she shot him in the crotch, in the kneecaps , painful spot, and finally in the chest yet not where he'd die instantly. Then she let him die slowly. Watched him die too, and when she was sure he was dead, she shot him right between the eyes."

It was silent then save for Sophie's continued retching and the somehow loud shutting of Alec's laptop. Nate cleared his throat before speaking.

"Okay, Eliot how do you know her; how did you know _that_?"

"I was sent to kill her and she told me." They were silent again before Hardison spoke, still a bit pale and his voice shaky.

"How do _you_ know her Nate?"

"I had chased her for maybe two years. She had stolen the recently recovered, but it had never been official. You all ever heard of The Hen Egg?" There were gasps all around and suddenly Sophie was back with brighter teeth and minty breath.

"Impossible. The Hen Egg was lost back in 1885, the same year the Tsar had given his wife Maria the first Fabergé egg, The Hen Egg," Sophie refuted in absolutely certainty that gave her pause when she saw the faint grin on Nate's face.

"True, all true, but IYS had recently came into some information that lead to one of the two 'surprises' that were lost over the years. The minute diamond replica of the Imperial Crown from which a small ruby pendant suspended from it; we never found the part with the matte yellow gold yolk," he shook his head at the stars in Sophie's eyes at the thought of the Egg. "Anyway, somehow Rose had gotten wind of the same information and then it was a race for the Crown. Unfortunately, she got there first, a rose left in place of the Crown. I chased her all the way to Ireland then where I lost her. IYS was disappointed, but it had never officially been insured with us—er them so, what could they do?"

"Wow! You stole the Hen Egg?" Parker sounded jealous and proud, and the team was suddenly aware that they had been speaking of a woman that was both as dangerous as Eliot and as stealthy as Parker who was in the same room. It was Sophie that spoke and when she did none were prepared for what happened next.

"Why the fuck are you here?" Lana stiffened; the grifter's tone was not polite nor were her words. Sophie continued on. "What do you want with Parker? How do you two know each other and why was Parker crying? And don't _bullshit_ me, _Rose_! What did you—?"

"Shut up! Shut up!" That was Parker and her words seemed to be magic for Sophie didn't speak another word. The thief didn't look normal. Her eyes were dark and dangerous and it looked as though she would hurt the next person that spoke. Lana's fingers found Parker's hair which had been let out of its ponytail, and she began to comb through it, calming Parker from her fit of rage.

Just who _was_ this woman to Parker?

A/N: Gotta give credit, where credit is due. The gruesome deaths depicted were the imaginings of the brilliant PrincessofNerds and the brief history of the Faberge egg was true and courtesy of wikapedia. Thanks for reading, please review.


	4. Welcome to the Team

Chapter Four: Welcome to the Team

The team was unsure of where to go from this. Obviously, Parker wouldn't let Rose—or Lana or whoever she was—leave, but they still had a job to do, promises to keep, and scum to put away. There was an awkward silence before Eliot stepped forward and took charge.

"Alright Hardison," he was interrupted by the hacker going immediately on the defensive.

"_Me_? What did I do?" The hacker questioned irate, eyes wide before continuing on a tirade. "Right, so let's just all blame Hardison. It's all his fault; it's always his fault." He shook his head slowly, defeated then pouted. "I ain't even do nothing."

"You done?" The hitter asked rhetorically. "'Cause we got work to do. Now do your thing with the computers, what's the Intel." He gestured to the screen of televisions that was still blank.

Hardison had the grace to look sheepish before pointing the remote to the screen, starting his presentation.

"Alright, this here is Richard Rice." The screen showed a picture of a smiling man at some type of event dressed casually in jeans and a T-shirt with 'Rice for the Refuge' in childish scrawl. "He has the charities _Rice for the Refuge,_ _Katching the Kids_, and _Fixin' the Fallen_. The guy's got an aching in alliteration," Hardison smiled and looked around the room for someone to share his joke with and found no one, they all had bemused looks, save for Eliot who wore his permanent scowl. Hardison continued.

"Man ya'll ain't no fun. Anyway, his charities are supposed to provide food to the kids in Africa and to the homeless in the city where there's a bunch of soup kitchens but look," court documents were pulled up onto the screen. "The guy's been accused of pilfering the money that's supposed to go to the kids and the homeless, but each time that he's accused, he manages to get out of it with the fancy lawyer, Bernard Jamison."

"What have we got on the lawyer, Hardison," Nate asked. The hacker typed upon his keyboard before more pages appeared upon the screen all bearing the name 'Jamison.'

"Let's see. Jamison had just gone through a divorce not too long ago, bout ten months ago. Apparently, he was sleeping with his secretary, but that was kept on hush, hush." There was a quiet murmur from Sophie that sounded like 'It's always the secretary.' Hardison threw a glance at her, but she just waved her hands on as if to say 'proceed.'

"Okay," Hardison continued. "Our mark, Rice has a brother, who's known for screwing up." He typed more buttons and a picture of a handsome man that had the same blue eyes and dark hair as the mark, but was obviously younger and fit was displayed on screen. "Charles Rice. He's the patsy for his brother; he takes all the heat when everything hits the fan. Guess he's his brother's get out of jail free card."

"And how does his brother feel about that, about being Richard's pawn?"

"See, Nate, the thing is Chuck does it happily. Never says a word otherwise, and you know he's covering for him since they had caught him, Richard dipping into the Charity's funds and his brother, Chuck said he did it."

"How do you know he didn't?" Sophie questioned.

"'Cause the first Rice was _caught_. As in _caught_ red-handed, as in _caught_ on _tape_."

"Wait, wait," Parker exclaimed, palms out. "You're saying the _father_ is in on it _too_?" Everyone paused and just stared then all spoke as one.

"What, no! Parker what—" Sophie.

"Parker, mama I meant the—never mind—" Hardison.

"How did you even get—? Something is wrong with you, like seriously wrong—" The hitter shook his head as did they all before Nate silenced them with his loud question.

"Can't you pull the tape up?"

"Man, don't you think I would've if I could? That'll make the job over like _that_," he snapped his fingers for emphasis. "Nah, they 'misplaced' the tape; it's not in the evidence as it should be. Nate, that tape was destroyed." Hardison scoffed, shaking his hand and muttering under his breath ''can't you pull the tape up.' I'm Hardison, Alec Hardison. I've hacked into the PD, FBI, _and_ the CIA. And he asked if I can pull the tape up. The nerve."

"Alright, Hardison, alright. Why didn't the tape hold up in court?"

"The brother said it was him. His statement to the judge and jury was that he and Richard share very similar features and they are easily mistaken for the other even though the other brother was said to be somewhere else at the time of the incident. I guess Chuck here," he pointed to the younger Rice sibling upon the screen. "lives and breathes the saying 'blood is thicker.'"

"Alright Hardison, so here's what we know: Our mark, Richard is taking the Charities' money and letting his brother, Charles, take the heat who doesn't mind doing so. He has a lawyer that makes his 'scapegoat' believable—"

"Here's something else Nate." The ex-insurance agent looked annoyed at being cut off, but waved the hacker on to continue. "Okay, so apparently the lawyer, Jamison has a problem with keeping his hands to himself. The man is a pervert. He has so many sexual harassment charges filed against him, it ain't even funny. He puts Hugh Hefner to shame." Moments later numerous documents of the aforementioned charges were displayed on screen. "But the thing is none of the formal complaints have ever made it to the EEOC, so it never hurt him."

"Okay, so that's our way in. The lawyer is our key in. Hardison, what's our lawyer schedule look like?"

"He's gonna be in New York for the big gala that Rice is having at his penthouse to garner more people to donate to his 'charities."'

"Okay, Sophie I need you with the mark. Parker you'll be the honeypot this time. Eliot, you'll secure their position. Looks like we're going to New York." Sophie let out a '_yes_!' The mastermind was confused when they all stood there before he remembered the dangerous thief in the room. _Damn_. He turned to address the assassin. "And Rose, you'll be with Eliot," He was confused when the woman _paled_ and why did his hitter _smirk_?

"Welcome to the team," Eliot said with a shark's grin.

A/N: Not much action, an a bit short but yay for the team's first job! I hope I got it right; I wanted it to be original, so what do you all think? I'm open to any ideas that any of you may have. Thanks for reading, please review. Next Chapter we see how well Rose does on the team and just what _is_ her role in the job?


	5. Grifter

Chapter Five: Grifter

"**Grifter**"

Sophie felt as though she would die. Gawd, after that _silent_ flight to New York and the palpable tension surrounding the team and that flowery _bitch_ taking her sister-friend away from her, Sophie thought she'd do a bit of therapeutic shopping; it was New York after all, the best stores. But nooo, Nate says they have to do recon, secure the position.

That _git_, could he not see that Sophie needed this? She was going to go bloody insane if she had to watch the complete and utter _trust_ that Parker had for _her_, Lana or Rose, whatever the bloody hell that wench's name was.

And Gawd, just what the hell was up with her and Eliot? After the whole "she told me" thing, the grifter had thought that they were friends or acquaintances at the very least. The wide berth that the murderer was giving the hitter was very confusing. She seemed almost _scared_ of Eliot. While Sophie didn't like the girl, she didn't want her to be scared of Eliot. She was a part of the team now and as much as the British woman didn't like Rose, Eliot was part of the team, she shouldn't fear him. The two hitters had history of course, something that was far more than "she told me" and "I was sent to kill her." The assassin was still alive and so was Eliot, so something had to happen that caused a sort of uneasy truce as well as the hitter enjoying Rose's discomfort. Oh, Sophie had not missed the smirks and the smug looks and the almost predatory way that Eliot seemed to regard the female assassin. What the hell was _that_ about? Sophie didn't know, but she was determined to find out.

"Sophie," the grifter was roused from her thoughts by Nate's voice in her ear. Right, she was supposed to be doing recon when she could be shopping, _should_ be shopping. She needed shoes for the gala tonight; her Jimmy Choos would not go with the dress that she had planned to wear tonight.

"Oh, Mr. Rice," she turned her attention to the mark whose attention was not on her, but on the sparkling necklace around her neck that she wore to cement the fact that she had _money_ in his mind. He hastily looked up as though he'd been paying attention all along.

"Yes, your Grace?" She gave a little laugh, touching his hand as she did so to put him more at ease.

"Oh, please. Call me Alexia." Today she was running her Duchess con. Today she was the Duchess Alexia of Barrington Highsworth, reminiscent of the Rashomon Job when they all stole the Dagger of Aqu'Abi.

"Alexia. Please call me Dick," he smiled.

"_I wonder if he knows that that title tailors him to the tee_," Hardison quipped in her ear, voice sounding out through the ear bud.

"_Dammit, Hardison. Stop with the damn alliteration!_" Eliot's retort almost caused the grifter to cringe.

"_Alright, children. Sophie, now mention that you wish to help the children. Say that…" _Nate's voice sounded in her ear.

"…I called you here, Dick because I have a fondness for children and would like to donate to your charity."

Sophie could tell that the man was holding back from grinning from ear-to-ear, wanting to maintain the illusion that a Duchess contributing was nothing big. "Thank you, Alexia for your contribution. I hope to see you at the Event tonight at nine."

Sophie stood as he did, "losing her balance" as she did and he automatically caught her. She lifted the key card in his jacket pocket and passed it to Parker who walked passed.

"Oh! I'm terribly sorry for that; I seemed to have lost my balance," in an absent minded tone as though speaking to herself, yet being sure to make certain that he heard her, she said, "that's never happened before." Thus, laying the groundwork that she could be interested in him and making her job far easier.

They parted ways, shortly after; Sophie laying on the charm, little touches and hidden meanings that could be anything making the mark, Dick flustered and jubilant. He made sure to disclose the location of the Event to her and even asked when should he expect her.

"_Okay, Sophie, you've got 'em. But be as vague as possible with the time; we still have a lawyer we have to hook."_

"Tonight," she smiled before walking away.

"_Good work, Sophie. Now you can go do that shopping you needed_." Oh, that Nate. It seems that the mastermind wasn't just a prat, he was… Nate. He noticed that she needed to cool off and was affording her this time to calm down. He was a bit sweet. "_Then meet the team here; Rose may need your coaching._" And then he was a prat.

_**A/N: **_Short I know but I hope you enjoyed. I really want to do an original job, so if you have any ideas…I'm open to them. Oh and any suggestions to the name of the job? One last thing: I have the job planned out, it just needs to come together, so expect another update soon, one with Eliot and Rose and Parker! I know I promised it here, but I PROMISE it will be in the next update. Please REVIEW!


	6. Two Hitters & One Thief

Chapter Six: Two Hitters & One Thief

"_Parker, Hardison's got the key. The security in the lawyer's office will be down, but only for the next seven minutes._" Nate voice resounded in the thief's ear. "_Can you get away for a bit? Rose will distract him; let her know._"

The thief gave an imperceptible nod of her head towards the slimy lawyer whose grimy hands were sliding up her knee. Parker was all too eager to get away from the pervy man with the hungry eyes. She hastily stood, acting embarrassed, playing up the shy girl act.

"I have to go! Uh, I have to go…powder my toes!" Then she hurried away from the uppity bar, Eliot waiting in the truck outside impatiently.

Rose took this time to make her way over to the put-out lawyer, a right temptress in the sexy little black dress and too-tall heels. The lawyer, Jamison looked up, a smirk on his lips. Rose took a seat two spaces down and ordered a drink, a Cosmopolitan.

Jamison, after downing his drink, made his way over to Rose with an over exaggerated swagger in his step. He seemed perfectly balanced even after all the shots he had downed; Rose grinned. So he was a drinker, interesting.

"I'll have two shots of what she's having." He turned to Rose who was appearing interested as he leaned towards her in a conspiratorial whisper. "I guess I didn't do my math. There's only one of me, not two! How 'bout you take the other one, doll?"

Rose refrained from rolling her eyes heavenward and just smiled before licking her lips and reaching for the drink that was in his hand instead of the one in front of her and sipped it, sending a playful smile his way and licking her lips, moaning lightly at the wonderful drink.

"So, uh what's your name, sweetheart?" Jamison asked, shifting slightly in his seat.

"Lola," she simpered and hid a smile when he sifted again in his seat.

"Well, Lola," he leered, leaning towards her and laying his clammy hand upon her bare knee, inching it up as he spoke. "The name's Jamison; you can call me James. You got a dress, dove?" She pretended to be more interested in his appearance, her eyes at half-mast as she pretended to rake her eyes over his form. He chuckled when he saw she wasn't even listening to him, enjoying the feeling of being so desirable. Jamison leaned toward her again, his hand on her thigh. "There's this thing I have to do tonight. I want you to be there. You're gonna need a dress, Lola. It's formal."

Rose blinked, as if finally becoming aware of him speaking; she even shook her head as if disoriented, pretending she didn't see the knowing smile tugging at his lips, which he tried to hide by taking a sip of his drink. "When and where, _James_?" Her gaze hooded as she glanced at his lips a moment too long, bringing her gaze back to his beady little eyes, which unabashedly devoured her form as though she were bare to him.

The lawyer grinned, catching the innuendo. Before he could reply, his phone rang. "_What_?" He snapped into the phone. "Wait, wait. Slow down…. Are you sure…. How long ago….I'm on my way now, don't move." He ended the call angrily before turning to Rose.

"It's at the Rice building, penthouse. Tell 'em Jamison sent cha. It's at eight. Be there thirty minutes after and wear something eye-catching." He threw a fifty on the bar and gave her thigh a squeeze before leaving.

Rose almost felt dirty from the conversation. Who does that? Anyway, she hoped that bought Parker enough time. No way of knowing since she didn't have one of those nifty little ear buds because Nathan Ford didn't trust her. She sighed before taking out her phone and dialing the number given. It rang twice before he answered.

"_Yeah._"

"Ford, he's on his way back to the office." She hung up before he could utter a reply. A text came in shortly after.

_Head back to the hotel and wait for instructions._

Rose scoffed and ordered another drink, polishing it off before heading out. To go shopping; after all, she still needed a dress and shoes, something eye-catching. Her phone rang twenty minutes later after she had gotten her dress and were still searching for shoes.

"Yes?" she answered, a smile lilting her voice.

"_Where are you? You were supposed to be here ten minutes ago!_" It was Eliot that had called; she immediately sobered up, showing the sales woman the dress that then chose the perfect shoes, an expensive pair of killer heels that she hadn't known were there and they were _gorgeous_.

"I'm on my way, dammit!" She purchased the shoes quickly, forgoing accessories until the woman came back with the best pair of earrings along with a matching necklace. Rose smiled gratefully at the woman as she rung the items up; she handed…Jane—if her nametag was anything to go by—her black card.

Rose clutched her things to her chest as she sprinted towards her car and speeded towards the hotel. She made it in record time and rushed up to the room with the day's spoils.

The door was ajar with Eliot standing in front, his arms folded and a smirk on his face that instantly put Rose on edge. She and Spencer didn't have the greatest of memories with each other. He was always so…marauding. He made her feel like prey and it was not a happy feeling and gods that smirk! It sent shivers down her spine and she didn't know if it was due to his hooded eyes trained on her or that goddamned smirk.

He strode over to her quickly after watching her squirm, shutting the door and then suddenly she found herself pinned to it. How the hell did that happen? His arms trapped her and she was just left to stare at him and his bedroom eyes and gods if she didn't feel what she felt when they darkened. Why was he doing this to her; he knew what was at stake. She could lose everything and just as she found her everything.

"Damn you, Eliot Spencer." She almost cringed at how shaky and breathy her voice sounded. He grinned rakishly down at her, his eyes taking in her attire.

"I can think of a similar situation when you said that to me, Rose." She shut her eyes at the memory.

_Rose's hands shook in her excitement as she ran; he was chasing her and it felt _good_. What would he do when he caught her? She shook at the thought, nearly tripping over a large root. She heard a growl and ran that much faster, a squeal escaping her. Rose ducked behind a tree, almost wishing that she hadn't worn the flimsy mini dress and the infamous too-tall heels. She breathed a sigh of relief when she didn't hear anymore footsteps then squeaked in surprise when arms snaked around her waist then turned and slammed her against the tree. It was him._

"_I win," he said, a smirk on his face. She reached up and kissed him, wiping his smirk away as their tongues danced. He groaned and let his hands resting around her waist move to her hips and lifted her up, she, wrapping her long legs around him obligingly, her hands tangling in his hair. _

"_You cheated," she said against his mouth. In retaliation his grip on her buttocks tightened as he ground himself into her. She moaned deeply, her head lolling back as he kissed along her neck. He sucked along her pulse point, eliciting a delicious noise from her, grounding into her as he did so then did it again, and again, and again until she was clutching his hair so tightly it was near painful, heightening his pleasure._

"Eliot_," she pleaded in a desperate voice. "I need…I need…"_

_His lips quirked into a smirk on her breasts, Eliot's tongue doing wonderfully sinful things to her. "What do you need?"_

_Rose let out a growl of her own, her red hair tossing back. "Damn you, Eliot Spencer." She slid down his erection and back up, loving the hiss he let out and the way his arms tightened around her. "I need _you_."_

_He smirked and she shivered at the way his eyes darkened to near black. "You got me."_

"Eliot…" she shook herself out of the memory, knowing she couldn't do this now, not without risking everything. The hitter snarled; his hand coming up to hit the door then thought better and she found herself again slammed into a surface, the wall.

"_Don't_." She almost jumped when he spoke. He sounded so angry, maybe even hurt. "Just don't." Without another word, Eliot turned and went inside the hotel room.

Rose was then aware that she was being watched. She looked up to find wide brown eyes staring at her. Parker.

"Shit." The blonde continued to stare, almost unseeing.

"Lana, what…Eliot and you…I don't…." The thief muttered, unable to string together a coherent sentence. She took a deep breath. "I was worried. You didn't show up at the room when everybody else did and I thought that maybe you had…." She swallowed hard, her wide eyes wider and fearful.

Rose winced. Gods, Parker was worried and the last thing the redhead wanted was for the thief to worry. She should've just listened to Ford and maybe all of this could have been avoided.

"Parker, I didn't mean to…. I'm sorry you…. I uh, I was," the assassin ran a hand through her vibrant curls. The blonde just stared, and stared, and stared then blinked and turned just as Eliot did and went inside the hotel room.

Rose was left standing alone in an empty hallway with nondescript walls wearing a flimsy mini dress and her infamous too-tall heels, wishing for a life she could never get back.


	7. One THief & A Hacker

Chapter Seven: One Thief & A Hacker

"_Parker, hurry up!" _Eliot's gruff voice sounded in her ear. The thief quickly made her excuses to the mark whose hands were too close and too slick on her skin. She hurried out to the truck where the hitter was waiting, but not before nodding towards the greasy old man and stealing a look at Lana who looked really good in her dress. Right, Eliot was waiting.

As soon as the blonde made it inside the truck, Eliot sped off, muttering expletives under his breath.

"Okay, so what's the plan?" Parker asked, cutting through Eliot's swearing, some of which she hadn't heard before and most in different languages.

"Nate says they have a doorman and Hardison says something about a motion sensor and heat warm floors or something. You're to disarm those while I distract the door guy." He paused trying to think. "You have like seven minutes at the most, five at the least."

Parker shrugged. "Motion sensors can be handled with spray and thermal detectors are fun too." She frowned when she saw Eliot shake his head. "What?"

"You're not going to be doing any of that; Hardison is. You're gonna just break into the apartment and grab the files while the one-man Geek Squad—"

"_Hey!_"

"—disables everything and I'll be distracting the doorman since no one can get into the building any other way except through the big guy."

"Okay, so I'll be stealing the files; you're distracting the bouncer and Hardison disables everything?"

Eliot growled, frustrated. "Yeah, that's what I _just_ said."

"Right, so I'll find the files and you watch the door-dude all after Hardison fries the security?"

"Parker!"

"Sorry, sorry. But just so we're clear: I get the files—"

"PARKER!" Eliot yelled, fed up; his hands jerking the wheel with more force than necessary, hitting the corners hard. Parker squealed at the thrill of it. She loved going fast, it's why she loved scaling buildings so much, the thrill.

They pulled up to a fairly large building that reminded her of the first time that she worked with the team to steal "back" the files to a great airplane. There were a great many windows that reflected the landscape along with the sun's glare. Parked in front was Lucille, Hardison's beloved van.

"So, Hardison's here. I thought he had to wait for you." Parker turned to Eliot to gauge his reaction. The hitter clenched his jaw and hurried out the truck, tossing his reply over his shoulder.

"He was." And then he was gone, hurrying into the building, leaving Parker to quicken her pace to match his own. She snagged the palm pilot that Eliot had left in glove box.

They were hindered from entering by the large, burly man standing guard in a posh, black suit. His arms were crossed over his chest, his stance that of a tense and prepared man. Eliot immediately identified him as ex-Secret Service.

The hitter's hair was slicked back in a ponytail and he wore his nerdy glasses. Parker pulled on her own nerdy glasses and pulled her hair into a loose bun and adopted an authoritative air.

"Sir, we're here about the technical difficulties that were called in by a Mister…" Parker made a show of glancing down at her palm pilot, butchering the name on purpose. "Richard Reese." She hid a smile when the bouncer gave an eye-roll and shook his head.

"The black nerd already came here to fix those; where's your equipment?" He peered closely at them and they were saved by Hardison storming out and grabbing their arms, reprimanding them in a loud voice.

"There you are! You should've been here like yesterday! Do you know that I had to re-route the circuits and I needed an HMI and was short one since you weren't here. And then don't get me started on the proxies that I had to clear using only the faux laser that I packed and the primitive technology that was here." He took a deep breath and narrowed his eyes on the two. "Did you at least bring the LAN and Telecom master cable?"

Parker gave him a blank look and winced. "Uh…."

"You didn't bring the master cable?!" Hardison exploded before abruptly calming. "That's fine, just come on you can help me configure the new hard drive, reboot the order and of course add support for the GTX 660 Ti, GTX 660, and GTX 650 GPUs."

Eliot nodded his head as though he had the faintest idea as to what Hardison was going on about. Parker nodded as well and looked to the bouncer who nodded at the three, giving them instructions on how to get to the penthouse.

They all entered the elevator with the exception of the bouncer who remained at his post. It dinged at the top floor and they were met again by yet another brawny guy whose arms were folded across his chest. Eliot recognized his relaxed yet ready stance at that of an ex-CIA agent. He placed his finger at his ear, listening to the bouncer downstairs alert him of their arrival. The ex-CIA guy waved them on, giving clearance.

Parker turned to Eliot and remarked as though it were an afterthought. "You can stay here, Kev. I doubt Jonny will follow me in here."

The bouncer didn't ask, but Eliot answered anyway. "Jonny's her ex. She feels safer with me, so I'm always with her, 'cept when she does house-calls. Then I sit and wait." The brawny man gave a small smile, and shared a long-suffering sigh.

"I know what you mean; Boss has me do the same thing." His accent was that of an Englander. He held out a big beefy hand to Eliot. "Name's Tank."

"El-uh Elle. Kevin Elle." Eliot grasped Tank's hand in a firm grip without being challenging. Tank gave a slight nod. "So, uh, Tank how long you been working?" The hitter started light conversation, figuring he may as well past the time while Parker breaks into the office inside.

Parker hurried after Hardison who thrust a black bag at her and ushered her up the stairs. She couldn't even fully appreciate the spacious room with the beautiful chandelier and its monochrome theme.

"I already disabled the security. Just find the files; you have only seven minutes. Get moving." Then he was gone before Parker had unzipped the bag.

She slipped out of the uncomfortable heels and slipped on her worn black boots, donning the black jacket over the slinky white dress.

"_Parker, security is down. You now have six minutes and twenty-seven seconds. Get going._" Parker snapped into action, rushing up the stairs, locating the office easily. She picked the lock before rushing inside and zealously searched.

After three minutes of failed downloads and still no files, Parker was ready to call it quits. Then she spotted a shiny something under the sleek, mahogany desk. A safe, pocket sized if it had to be described, with a keypad that looked like it required four to six digits.

"Hardison, I think I found our files," she whispered into the ear bud, starting to wonder just what it was that the hacker was doing.

Hardison was actually doing some work, if any would believe it. He'd planted many bugs inconspicuously around the house. He came across a laptop somewhere in the large penthouse and was currently downloading everything on the hard drive onto his flash drive. He grinned wide once he saw that the files were almost done downloading. Then he spotted a computer at a desk in the study and grinned big at his luck. He hurriedly plugged in a second flash drive, downloading everything on the computer, when he heard footsteps.

It wasn't Parker; he was sure of it, and Eliot would have announced his arrival. The hacker quickly pulled up several techy things on the computer, giving the pretense of fixing a virus and eliminating any parked proxies. The steps were at the door now and Hardison could make out the brother, Chuck.

Chuck made his way over to the hacker, peering over his shoulder to see what it was the tech guy was doing. His eyebrows shot up into his dark bangs at the many proxies and viruses and just how fast the black man before him was doing away with them. The guy's fingers were flying across the keyboard! It was weird and cool at the same time, like the tech support guy was playing some RP computer game.

Charles's phone rang and he hurried to answer it; it was his brother, Dick. "Yellow." He turned to the geek at the desk, but the guy was completely fixated on the screen; it was reflecting eerily off the guy's specks.

"Yeah, the tech support people are here… Yeah, I'm pretty sure that everything is good to go for tonight… Yeah, I know you have that meeting with Jamison." Charles sighed, running a tan hand through his wind swept hair. "There's not going to be a screw up. Don't worry, I'll have everything ready in an hour…I don't know, let me see." Charles covered the mouthpiece and hollered at Hardison, "grabbing" the man's attention.

"Hey! Tech Support!"

"Yeah, man?" Hardison asked, his fingers still rapid across the keyboard. Hardison was a bit nervous; the files were still downloading and they weren't even close to being done.

"How long until you're done?"

"Well, sir. I have to reconfigure the hard drive and since I don't have my LAN & Telecom master cable, I have to make do. And I still have to finish adding support to the GTX 660 and GTX 650 GPUs. And then I have to—"

"That's fine; it's fine. Just how long will it take for you to do…all of that?"

"Not that long sir; maybe _three minutes and thirteen seconds_."

"Wow, that's accurate. Alright, then carry uh, on." Hardison let out a sigh of relief once Charles left out and quickly unplugged his flash drive. He slipped a bug under the desk chair. Then he made his way out.

"Parker, get out. The systems will be back up in _one minute and six seconds_."

Meanwhile, the thief was still trying to crack the code for the safe. There were only two more combinations left. She had just begun to punch in one when Hardison gave his warning. Parker quickly entered the combo and let out a triumphant cry when she heard the click of the safe opening. She had fifty-three seconds left. Parker grabbed the contents in the safe.

"Hardison I got it."

"_Did you check to make sure?_" Parker rolled her eyes and did just that. It wasn't the files that they required.

"Hardison, it's just a bunch of banknotes. It's not the records we want."

"_Damn. I don't have 'em either. Let's check out the lawyer's office. Put them back and let's go._"

"_No, no. Parker, grab those notes; they might prove useful._" It was Nate; Parker wondered what he was doing. She stuffed the banknotes in her bag.

They both made their way to the front door to find Eliot and the big guard chatting it up. "Alright E uh Kevin let's go. Our work here is done." Eliot and the big guy shook hands and everything! It was like they were best friends or something. They even had nicknames; Tank and L; it was very weird.

Once they were outside, Hardison and Eliot were at it.

"You gonna get best friend bracelets for your new bestie?" The hacker quipped with a smile to the now irate hitter.

"Hardison, if I didn't know any better, I'd say you were jealous." Eliot smiled towards Hardison who was sputtering.

"Me? Jealous? I think you got hit too many time if you think _I'm_ jealous. Nah, nah, If anything, _you're_ jealous. Not me. Why would I be jealous if you and Hulk get matching friendship bracelets?"

"Hey—!"

"Or if ya'll make plans to go punch unsuspecting people. Me and the new girl just gonna get better acquainted." He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. Eliot couldn't contain the glare he shot the hacker for that statement even though he knew that there was no way that Hardison and Rose would 'get better acquainted.' Firstly, because everybody knew that Hardison was crazy about Parker and secondly, because Hardison was scared of Rose. But the hitter couldn't hide his surprise when Parker tore into Hardison for the innuendo about Rose.

"Shut the heck up, Hardison and just get in the freaking van. Me and Eliot will meet you at the dirty old guy's office." Parker walked away, leaving an openmouthed and properly chastised Hardison staring after her. He recovered quickly.

"Well, who put sauerkraut in her cheerios," he huffed immaturely before driving off.

It was a tense drive to Jamison's office. Parker seemed wound up, and Eliot knew he couldn't deal when she blew, so it was a silent ride.

They pulled up to a major building and were directed inside to Jamison's office. They all were masquerading as police officers. Eliot kept the receptionist distracted while Parker did her thing after Hardison disabled the thermal detector. There wasn't much that the hacker could do about the pressure sensor floor in Jamison's office, but the thief carried with her a harness, which she hooked onto something on the ceiling, bearing her weight. Parker came through the vent with her handy harness holding her aloft the floor. It was difficult since she had to be in and out in only three minutes.

"I'm in and I see the safe," which was in the same place as the Rice brothers,' under the desk. She punched in the same key and was rewarded by the click of it opening. "They're predictable idiots. Who has the same code?" She opened it expecting banknotes but found two shiny platinum bands, both adorned with a 4.0 Ct., probably valued at 600K.

"Hey, guys no files here. Just two very pricey rings." Parker noticed that the rings were engraved. "'Forever faithfully loving you.'"

"_Alright, Parker. Our files aren't there; time to get out._" Nate informed them.

Parker lifted up from the safe after putting the rings back, nearly dropping one but caught it just before it could touch the pressure sensor floor. She swung by the desk to get to her escape route and the alarm went off.

"Uh-oh. Hardison the alarm was tripped, but I have forty-five seconds until security is back up."

"_I know! I don't understand what—oh!_"

"_Hardison, what is it?_" Nate asked before Parker could.

"_Parker tripped an alarm that I didn't account for. His security was so high-tech that I didn't notice the standard CCTV alarm. It must have been tripped when you swung by it, Parker._"

"_Parker, get to the exit. You too, Hardison, Eliot will make sure both of you get out okay._"

Parker crawled through the air vents and had just made it out when Hardison warned of the other security being up. Hardison was spotted walking towards her just as she had unhooked the harness; she gave him a high-five and they both shared a triumphant grin before skedaddling out of there.

Just in time to see Eliot take the piece of paper the receptionist slipped him along with a flirty smile and a come-hither look. Hardison shook his head, grabbed the hitter telling him that dispatch had called, which the ditzy receptionist had finally noticed the red light blinking on her screen telling her the alarms were tripped but by then, the "cops" were gone.

"_Make your way to the hotel,_" Nate told them. "_There's been a change of plans._"

They all pulled up at the hotel and headed to the room. Almost a half hour later, Sophie came stumbling in with her arms laden with shopping bags. Parker still hadn't heard from Lana, so whilst Eliot was making a call, she slipped out of the room to look for her. What if she had left because of Eliot's creepiness and Sophie's attitude? Parker held in the tears and set off to look for Lana.

She headed back to the bar where the pervy old man had hit on her. Her entrance was a bit dramatic since she threw open the doors and frantically searched for Lana only to come up empty, which seemed to be the norm that day; no files and no Lana. She was about to check out a few of the cafés when she heard Lana's voice through Eliot's ear bud say that she was on her way. Eliot must have called her when he made that call.

Parker had just made it to the hotel when she came up on the scene of the two hitters together. Lana was trapped to a wall with Eliot's body pressing down on hers, immobilizing her. She couldn't hear what was said, but it looked like Lana _like-liked _what Eliot was doing. Eliot was suddenly angry, and he stormed inside after slamming Lana into the wall.

Parker wanted to run and help, but she couldn't move, could only stare. Lana and Eliot were a bit like Nate and Sophie. The way they acted, the way he looked at her; it was just like Nate and Sophie but more…_odd_. Lana was speaking, but Parker couldn't really hear what was said; it sounded like she was speaking underwater. She didn't even know what _she _said.

Parker could only stare, and the more she did, the more she realized how much she didn't like seeing Lana stand there and look so helplessly _guilty_. It was too much, so Parker just turned and went inside.


	8. The Good Samaritan Job

Chapter Eight: The Good Samaritan Job

They all were congregated in the hotel room, and Hardison couldn't help but notice the strangeness of Parker's icy exterior and Rose's sullen form as well as Eliot's scowl…well, that's not new; the hitter was always scowling, probably angry that he didn't get to hit anyone.

Nate called everyone to attention, telling of the changed plans. "Alright, team, so there's been a change of plans like I said." He looked around; making certain he had everyone's attention. Once satisfied, he continued. "Sophie, you're still with the main mark, but Parker," the thief just stared, her mind obviously billions of miles away. The mastermind clapped his hands loudly and the blonde jumped, blinking wildly as she looked around for the noise only to find everyone staring at her. Her expression didn't change, but she appeared to be paying attention. Nate proceeded with the new plan. "_Parker_, here, is _not_ going to be the honeypot; Rose will."

There were no protests as he had thought there would be. "We need those files, so while everyone is busy at the party—Sophie will be distracting the mark and Hardison is posing as a member of the staff—Parker will be retrieving those files and our retrieval specialist will be backing her up." He looked to Eliot who was as stony as Parker, yet the mastermind gave no comment, just paused for the hitter to nod in acknowledgement.

"Wait, Nate," Sophie's charming accent filled the room. "What are you going to be doing while we're doing all that?" Almost as one the others turned to look at Nate, who gave a knowing smile that tipped them off. "You've been working on some project that you've kept from us." Her brown eyes flashed with intuition. "And with Hardison!"

The hacker gave a guilty smile that was not apologetic one bit even as he said, "sorry but Nate wanted it to be secret for some reason."

"So just what _is_ this _top-secret_ project, hmm? The one that you've been keeping from us." Sophie pretended to be indignant, but they all saw the smile she tried to hide.

"Well, Sophie, do you know Jonathon Cartwright?" Here, Parker spoke.

"That's wrong Nate!" Nathan Ford whirled around at the angry and sudden outburst. "It's not Jonathan Cartwright; it's the muffin-man." The team sported similar looks of confusion; their unanimous question clear on their faces. "You said 'do you know Jonathan Cartwright.' That's wrong; it's do you know the muffin-man." They all wore disbelieving looks, but she continued on. "You know the one on Drury Lane?" The thief paused as if something had just occurred to her.

"Unless you're not talking about the muffin-man…." The Irishman sighed deeply, but the thief continued as if he didn't. "If that's the case then you still got it wrong. It's _Eric_ Cartwright, not Jonathan! Silly." Parker was quiet then and Nate gave a little and semi-awkward cough before proceeding on as if he had never been interrupted.

"So, Sophie, do you know the muffin-man?" He shook his self, ignoring the snicker Hardison gave and the amused smile on Sophie's face. "_Sophie, do you know __**Jonathan**__**Cartwright**__?_" Nate's voice came out extremely forceful after the slip with the muffin-man. Sophie nodded hastily and Nate gave a slow smile that bordered on creepy, which Parker commented on but was ignored as Nate continued, determined to avoid any more interruptions. "_Jonathan Cartwright_," he paused and sent a look Parker's way, as if challenging her to say something; she didn't. "He's a doctor, a very rich doctor that is very interested in donating to charity." He sent a meaningful glance the grifter's way as if saying _fill in the blanks _or_ connect the dots_.

"Oh!" The grifter exclaimed once she realized where he was going with that, a bit miffed that she was so slow to catching on. "So we're selling him the biggest fish in the pond?" Nate nodded.

"Alright, who's Jonathan Cartwright?" Eliot asked, annoyed at being left out of the loop.

Nate gave that knowing smile and Sophie grinned when she caught on at last. "_You're_ the doctor?"

"Bingo. I had Hardison create an identity for me. How's the security looking Hardison?" The hacker looked up before grabbing his computer and pulling up the blueprints and security detail and such he had been working on.

The hacker turned the screen of his laptop towards the others to show the two-D diagram he did of the penthouse and the security levels were shown as well as the fact that he had control of all of it.

_Hardison heard footsteps. It wasn't Parker; he was sure of it, and Eliot would have announced his arrival. The hacker quickly pulled up several techy things on the computer, giving the pretense of fixing a virus and eliminating any parked proxies. The steps were at the door now and Hardison could make out the brother, Chuck._

_Chuck made his way over to the hacker, peering over his shoulder to see what it was the tech guy was doing. His eyebrows shot up into his dark bangs at the many proxies and viruses and just how fast the black man before him was doing away with them. The guy's fingers were flying across the keyboard! It was weird and cool at the same time, like the tech support guy was playing some RP computer game, _but really Hardison had been cracking the encoded files that allowed him to override the security system.

_Charles's phone rang and he hurried to answer it; it was his brother, Dick. "Yellow." He turned to the geek at the desk, but the guy was completely fixated on the screen; it was reflecting eerily off the guy's specks. _The Matrix-like file had reflected off of his glasses which were completely unnecessary since he could see just fine. As the guy was on the phone talking to his greasy and grimy brother, Hardison finished up, overriding the system by setting the password to yellow. Now all he had to do was wait.

"_Yeah, the tech support people are here… Yeah, I'm pretty sure that everything is good to go for tonight… Yeah, I know you have that meeting with Jamison." Charles sighed, running a tan hand through his wind swept hair. "There's not going to be a screw up. Don't worry, I'll have everything ready in an hour…I don't know, let me see." Charles covered the mouthpiece and hollered at Hardison, "grabbing" the man's attention._

"_Hey! Tech Support!"_

"_Yeah, man?" Hardison asked, his fingers still rapid across the keyboard. Hardison was a bit nervous; the files were still downloading and they weren't even close to being done._ Neither was the overriding.

"_How long until you're done?"_ Hardison needed him out of there yet at the same time he needed to buy some more time. He gave the man the same boring and complicated (to people that didn't know computers) answer.

"_Well, sir. I have to reconfigure the hard drive and since I don't have my LAN & Telecom master cable, I have to make do. And I still have to finish adding support to the GTX 660 and GTX 650 GPUs. And then I have to—"_

"_That's fine; it's fine. Just how long will it take for you to do…all of that?" _Nate was suddenly inquiring about the overriding; how much time 'til it went into effect.

"_Not that long sir; maybe __**three minutes and thirteen seconds**__." _

"_Wow, that's accurate. Alright, then carry uh, on." Hardison let out a sigh of relief once Charles left out and quickly_ _unplugged his flash drive. He slipped a bug under the desk chair. Then he made his way out._

Hardison giving a fist-pump at his success that no one was around to notice along with a triumphant smile.

"All good, man. I'm in." Nate nodded as though he expected nothing less. "Nate, are we going to that meeting that the Rice brothers are having?" Nate shook his head and gestured at the time, which displayed that they had maybe a few hours before the event.

They go over the plan a couple more times before preparing for it, making sure they had all the appropriate equipment and attire. When they finally left out, they had nearly an hour to set up shop for their job at the event. Rose stayed behind for obvious reasons, she couldn't show up for another thirty minutes, so it was she and Hardison in the van together, a somehow comfortable silence shared.

The assassin realized just how damn brilliant Hardison was. She realized how dangerous he could be too even though he seemed easygoing, he'd be one bad enemy. He was a great asset; they bonded over his love of tech. He showed her how to do the basic things, hack into a phone, how to unlock a car using a phone and other things he called basic that really weren't. Surprisingly, or unsurprisingly, he was a great teacher, and while the team on the inside chilled out waiting for their marks, they played Mine Craft, a game she hadn't thought she'd enjoy.

All too soon, it was her cue and the team was in action. No one had seen her dress or shoes, so it was satisfying when her entrance was as awesome as she had hoped. It wasn't dramatic; it didn't get quiet as everyone turned to stare at her and some magic spotlight suddenly found its way onto her form. That wasn't what happened; she wasn't Cinderella going to some Ball. Instead of the dramatics of a Disney entrance, hers was met with many heads turning to watch her as she sashayed by in her tight green-apple dress, wearing killer silver heels that matched the embroidery on the beaded bust, flowing smoothly with the A-line floor-length silk gown. Her vermillion hair was curled and pinned onto her head with a diamond-encrusted clip that matched her emerald and diamond chandelier earrings, stray ringlets framing her face.

She knew she looked good, but she felt out of place in a sea of mostly dark colors. The party-goers were either in black or some other somber color. Well, maybe that was a bit of a hyperbole; not everyone was wearing dark, but no one was wearing as bright a hue as she. Rose noticed Sophie blended in and stood out. The dress she wore was very glittery; it looked like she wore the night sky on a starry night. Her shoes were silver too, and by the gods! Those were the same killer heels that she had on! At least they hadn't had on the same dress; now _that_ would have been a disaster.

Before Rose could ponder the heinous act of Sophie, she was grabbed. It took her a millisecond to realize it was the lawyer. He's a lucky bastard, had almost ended up with a broken limb, but she had caught herself. The hand on his wrist—ready to snap it— made its way up his arm, a suggestive smile with her biting her lip as if biting back a moan indicating that she was as happy to see him as he was her, if the thing touching her thigh was any indication.

Jamison gave her a look that was supposed to be smoldering, but only seemed like he was angry or constipated or maybe a look that said he was angry because he was constipated. Rose responded with a shudder that she made look as though she were trying to hide it. She thought of the time she had gotten caught stuffing her bra when she was thirteen and flat-chested; a pale pink hue colored her cheeks, which the lawyer took for embarrassment that she couldn't contain her desire for him, which was what she wanted him to think.

Jamison led her over to some of his colleagues, showing her off like some trophy wife, a possessive arm around her waist. She had to remind herself what would happen if she twisted and broke his arm. The eyes that crawled up and down her form were unfamiliar in a way that wasn't. It was nothing new being checked-out, what was, was how she felt, almost icky, like she needed a shower right that second. She didn't like it and she again needed to restrain that part of her that wanted to do way with the source of the problem.

Meanwhile, Nate and Richard were all sitting in his office. Richard had left Sophie/the Duchess of Barrington Heights once he got wind that the Doctor of Doctors that wasn't really a Doctor was there. Apparently the story went that the Doctor of Doctors was very sick with some unknown, untreatable cancer despite his youthful appearance because he was working on a cure _for_ cancer but the side-effects were fatal, resulting in his sickness and near-death. And he had no child or family.

He needed somewhere to put his money, someone that could use his money for good. Richard Rice, being such a "good man" (more like greedy) told him to donate it all to charity, any charity, _his_ charity. Then quite reluctantly, the Doctor of Doctors told him that he couldn't just do that; he wanted to help children since he didn't have any of his own. Long story short, Rice said his charity helps children and Doctor of Doctors agreed to leave a very big donation, the largest.

"Thank you for your most generous contribution, Doctor," Richard said shaking Nate's hand. "It's going to help so many children because of you." The lying con-man lied through his teeth.

Sophie could hear all that was being said from her place at the bar, she scoffed aloud. Moments later, Richard returned with a shit-eating grin on his face. Sophie had to step her game up.

"Dick, I've been giving your charity a lot of thought. I love the idea of helping children and would like to donate more than what I had said." That got the man's attention, his eagerness was tangible.

"How many pounds we talking here?"

"I've quite recently found a most precious family heirloom and thought I'd donate it. It's the crown of my many-greats cousin, Princess Ariel of a neighboring country. Her descendants rule no longer, but her crown is most valuable." She took a deep breath, as if making a difficult decision. "I want to donate it so that more children will be fed."

The grin on Richard's face should have split it, reaching from ear to ear. He gave a laugh that boomed. Calling attention to them; a familiar face spotted Sophie.

"Catherine? Catherine Clive?" The man pushed through the crowd, and Sophie recognized him as an old boyfriend when she went by Catherine.

"Aaron." Sophie turned toward the stunned man who gathered her in his arms. She sighed when she saw the realization on Richard's face. Shit.

"I thought you were dead; they told me you were. The service was too much, so I didn't go. But, god! Catherine, you're here and I'm crazy…."

"Shit. Nate, I'm blown."

Eliot was pissed. Sure, he got to wear a suit and he wasn't the help like Hardison was or Parker, but dammit what the hell was wrong with her? Not Parker, Rose. She comes waltzing in with a look-at-me dress and fuck-me pumps. Was she sent to torment him? Sophie wore the same thing, but she was like a sister, a step-sister since he couldn't deny that she looked good, but dammit, Rose. He needed a drink.

The hitter grabbed the nearest drink off of a tray, a flute of champagne of course. He needed something stronger, but this will have to do. He kept close while Parker searched for the files, keeping an eye out for anyone. Hardison was stationed in some computer room that was furnished for tech support, must be nerd-heaven.

He noticed a group of men headed his way, all dressed in black suits, their stance belying nothing, giving off a foreign feel. He recognized the cut of the suit as well as the accent. Russians. They hadn't seen him yet and just as he settled in to take them out, they turned down the corridor and entered a room.

It came as a shock when he could hear their conversation; it must be the room Hardison bugged. To his surprise or maybe not, Richard enters the room. The conversation is low, obviously not wanting to be heard.

"_I have your money,_" Richard was saying. The Russians made movement and there was a thud as something hit the table, the slap confirmed it was paper, the money. A question was asked in Russian, is it all there?

"_Nyet_." _No._ The Rice brother defended himself immediately.

"_It's not all there, I know. And I haven't forgotten about the deal with Dmitri. He'll get his money. Don't worry._" As confident as Richard was trying to seem, he sounded every bit as afraid and anxious he really was. There was a tremor to his voice, a stutter in his words. He almost sounded as though he was near tears.

A thickly accented voice responded, a laugh in his voice, as though amused by his fear. "_Belikov is not happy. Scaredy-cat American says he has money for him, and lie. _You_ should worry, not me._" Just as he finished speaking, Parker realized that the files were not in this office and stepped out after telling Eliot.

"Dmitri Belikov. That's the Russian Mob Boss. This isn't just him embezzling money from a charity, Nate." Eliot declared; face set in stone from his anger.

"_He's paying off the Russian Mob_." Nate finished.

"_This is bigger than we thought_." Hardison added.

"_But _not_ bigger _than_ us_." The mastermind assured them.

At the same moment Parker had stepped out, the Russians were exiting as well, leaving Richard to bite off all his fingernails in anxiety, the fear that came with waiting.

Parker and the men stared at the other. Parker with a deer in the headlights expression and the men with predatory gazes as their eyes raked over her form, a dark look in their eyes and in their smiles. The thief was saved by Eliot who motioned for her to leave.

His eyes narrowed on those that watched Parker as she ran away from the very real danger. That was a no-no. It was saying _when I'm done with you, I'm after _her. The retrieval specialist gave a growl that let them know he was pissed. As one, they went for their guns; two had already placed the silencer on their weapons. Eliot gave a smile before shooting his hand out and grabbing the guy's wrist, pulling the man to him like a human shield. He angles the Russian goon in such a way that he can't break his hold on him, his head was away from his so that the man wouldn't be able to head-butt him and his arms were held tightly down by Eliot's hands. The hitter gave a twist of his wrist and applied a bit of pressure, snapping the guy's wrist, making him drop the gun.

The other men move in so Eliot throws his "shield" at them, knocking one out as their foreheads meet with a contusion-worthy impact. Two down and more to go. One guy punches the hitter with a force to send him into the wall, spitting blood, which is when he gets Nate's message about Sophie's cover being blown.

"I'm kinda busy at the moment." He swallowed another major blow and gave as good as he got. The blow to the guy's temple from the hitter's fist was enough to have him down for the count. He kicked another one in the gut and as the guy doubled over in pain, Eliot dodged a beefy hand and elbowed the first guy hard in back, sending him down. One of the men pulled his gun and shot, narrowly missing Eliot, but not missing his partner, who was hit in the leg from the bad aim when Eliot rolled to dodge it.

The hitter was up and in the gun man's face taking the gun and clocking him with it in the temple, sending the guy behind him a powerful jab in the solar plexus and roundhouse kicking the last guy. He walked over to the man that was shot; the guy was crawling toward the gun. With one well-placed kick to the temple from the hard-edge of Eliot's shoes, the last guy was out like a snuffed candle.

Meanwhile, Rose had slipped away from the hands-y lawyer, looking for Sophie so they can have it out about the shoes. It was just disrespectful to show up at the same whatever wearing the same thing as someone who was going to wear it first. She found Sophie being dragged away by "security" with creeping eyes and hands. Dashing whatever plans she had to yell at Sophie, Rose hurried after the men; entering the dark and isolated room they dragged the grifter off to. Her entrance was met by leers as their beady eyes crawled up and down her frame.

"What's going on?" She adopted her best drunk and confused look. She was an assassin with zero weapons and in a tight dress, outnumbered by big, hulking men.

"Lost little girl?" They had Russian accents. Why did they have Russian accents?

They were coming toward her and not with the intent to help her find her way back, if she was lost that is. One had somehow already snuck up behind her, grabbing her around the waist. She gave a groan and the surrounding men laughed. The one holding Sophie caught her eye, his hand going up the skirt of Sophie's dress. The grifter had been gagged and tied up. They were quick.

At the single tear that escaped Sophie's eye, Rose contorted her body to bend and go over the guy's head, her long heels digging hard into the guy's back. She kicked off and gave a cartwheel, kicking the guy in the back of the head. He stumbled away from her, holding his head before charging at her. She dodged him easily, but the length of her dress was proving bothersome. The guy's hand on Sophie was getting higher, his smile wider. Rose made quick work of the man with a deep kick to the gut and another to the temple.

The others ran at her. She made the mistake and glanced again at the guy's hand and saw how it was kneading her breast roughly through the fabric of her dress. Sophie was sobbing quietly, silent tears trailing silver paths down her suddenly pale cheeks. It was a sickening sight and something in Rose twisted at seeing the strong woman reduced to that. She was hit in gut by a blow from the Hulk in a black suit. Moving quickly she made her way behind one the guy's that had a knife. He was out by the kick to his head, harder than she had intended, she got a sprain from it. She was swift with the knife, cutting her dress to mid-thigh.

Next, she dodged the Hulk again, rolling on the floor, before flipping off the floor towards him and locking her legs around his neck before giving a twist and snapping the Hulk-man's neck. She took out the last guy the same way except using her hands. There were still more, but Sophie was in desperate need, so Rose threw the knife through the air and towards the man, smiling to herself once it hit home, driving into his head. Bulls-eye.

Sophie saved from a most dreadful thing; Rose kneed a guy in the groin and elbowed his back. She kicked another, but sustained a jab to the gut again, spitting blood in another one's face. He backhanded her, and it hurt like hell. She gave a roundhouse kick to him and while he was recovering, double kicked him in the solar plexus, sending him out. The others had realized she wasn't just a "lost little girl" and had pulled guns on her, she kicked one out of a guy's hand and dashed for it, emptying the clip into him and tore into another. One nicked her arm just barely when they fired back. She gave another one a blow to the temple with the butt of the empty weapon. Rose stole another's gun and fired it in knee-caps, which did nothing. These guys were resilient.

She fired more shots in between their eyes, happy for the silencer and ignoring the whimpering Sophie was emitting. There were just two guys left and they both came at her. She twisted and dodged as best she could with a sprained ankle, hitting the floor and using their momentum against them. They kept coming. So as a last ditch effort, Rose jumped in the air and split-kicked the two then as one went down, she lacked her legs around the other one's neck and twisted her body, letting go when she heard the _snap_. The last one she gave a kick to the head as he was down, ensuring he stayed out, and then for good measure, she shot him.

Exhausted and hurt, she made her way over to Sophie who was a wreck. Her mascaraed eyes were bright with tears and her dress was rumpled, wrinkled, and stained with the blood of others. Her hair had fallen out of its elaborate pin-up. When Rose finally arrived over to a terrified Sophie, she was completely unprepared for the grifter to throw her arms around her and sob into her chest. Sophie's ear bud had fallen out with the movement, Rose picked it up, while petting the English-woman's hair and back in what she hoped was a comforting manner.

"_Sophie! Sophie! You have to get out of there; more Russians are coming._" Rose snorted before taking the ear bud out and placing it in Sophie's ear.

"It's for you." Sophie looked up at the woman, face blotchy and stained with tears, she answered Nate.

"Yeah, Nate? ... No, no I'm fine. Thanks to Rose….Alright, we'll go." She turned to the assassin who was assessing those on the ground and arming herself with as many weapons as she could, even donning one of their jackets to hold more weapons. Taking their holsters and placing them on her thighs, as many knives that would fit along with the guns, ammo in the pockets of "her" jacket.

"We have a problem. There are more of them coming. We have to go." Sophie told Rose, voice still not as strong, yet her eyes were not as dull anymore. She was coming around, it could have been worse.

Steps sounded toward the door. They were already here. "Go," Rose told Sophie, gesturing toward the door. "Just run and don't look back. I'll join you after." She didn't turn to watch the grifter leave out the door, and she was glad that Sophie had enough sense to ditch the shoes since one heel was broken; it would have only slowed her down. The steps were getting closer. Rose settled into a fighting stance, getting ready for yet another battle. One she wasn't sure she'd come out of.


End file.
